The Last City by Nina D'Aleo Read Free Book Online

commander reminded Eli that the upgraded communicator system he’d been working on was now complete and ready to go active. He trotted around the office, rounding up the various parts. As he worked, he heard Copernicus give a direct command to the Custody Superior that no information on Ev’r Keets was to be given to the media. He also wanted a blanket ban on any United Regiment personnel discussing the fugitive with anyone outside of the force. Eli thought this was a good move, but also knew without a doubt that tonight, with or without the ban, every single soldier would tell their family about the capture of Keets, and then their family members would tell their friends and their friends would tell their families and so on. He gave it a day and a night maximum for the streets in front of Headquarters to be overcrowded with people either protesting or supporting the death penalty, or just there for a good old look. Copernicus, obviously thinking the same thing, began giving the Custody Superior instructions to reinforce security at all entrances and exits of Headquarters.
    As soon as he ended the conversation, Diega burst out, ‘She knows something for sure. She’s playing us. We have to go back and make her talk. We can drug her, mesmerise her – whatever. It’s not like we have to stick to protocol with her. She’s as good as dead.’
    Copernicus shook his head. ‘Nothing will work on her. We’ll have to have her brain purged before her execution.’
    ‘There’s no guarantee the courts will allow that,’ Diega argued.
    ‘I’ll have a psychic analyst evaluate her and rule her as withholding information. Under the present conditions in the city, the courts will grab at anything to stop the deaths.’ The commander rubbed a hand over his forehead in an uncharacteristic display of stress.
    Jude shifted uncomfortably on the couch and said, ‘I’m sorry, Commander, but how could Keets have anything to do with what’s going on? She hasn’t been anywhere near Scorpia in year-cycles, before I even joined the Regiment, and besides, aren’t Keets and Christy Shawe enemies?’
    ‘So?’ Diega asked.
    ‘So if he’s the instigator, he wouldn’t have recruited her, would he? What’s the point of purging her mind if she doesn’t know anything?’ Jude said.
    ‘She knows everything,’ Diega insisted. ‘This is Ev’r Keets we’re talking about. And since when have you been against purging?’
    ‘What do you mean since when have I been against purging?’ Jude demanded, sitting forward in his chair. ‘You know very well how I feel about that sort of thing.’ SevenM moved restlessly on his shoulder.
    Diega shook her head. ‘You’re against the death penalty, you don’t agree with imprisonment, you don’t like purging. Are you sure you’re in the right profession, Jude?’
    The Ar Antarian’s face flushed deep grey. ‘I’m in the profession of saving lives, Diega. What’s your vocation?’
    Diega laughed. ‘My vocation? You know what Jude, come back and talk to me after you’ve been a tracker for a few more year-cycles, because you obviously haven’t been on the job for long enough.’
    ‘Long enough for what?’ Jude raised his voice. ‘To become so desensitised and cold that I stop feeling anything at all?’
    Diega snorted and Copernicus stepped in. ‘Jude, Keets has been marked as a traitor by the king himself. He will want to make an example of her. Keets won’t be shown any kind of leniency.’
    ‘And neither should she,’ Diega added. ‘She is a murderer. She took life, she deserves for her life to be taken, and before she does, we’ll split open her mind and expose her thoughts. She will be of use to us whether she agrees to it or not.’
    ‘Commander,’ Jude said. ‘Maybe if we just reasoned with her —’
    ‘Did you not see what happened back there?’ Diega talked over him.
    Jude ignored her and spoke again to the commander. ‘Just keep talking to her. Maybe she will give us